Jefferies Financial Group Lowers Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) Price Target to $56.00

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) had its price objective cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $58.00 to $56.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 18.04% from the company’s previous close.

DAL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $59.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, HSBC began coverage on shares of Delta Air Lines in a research report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $72.80 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.25.

Delta Air Lines Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of DAL stock opened at $47.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $30.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.37. Delta Air Lines has a 12-month low of $30.60 and a 12-month high of $53.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.63 and a 200-day moving average of $45.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.48.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 11th. The transportation company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $13.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.51 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 8.48% and a return on equity of 41.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Delta Air Lines will post 6.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 4,846 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.30, for a total value of $253,445.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 112,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,879,618.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Willie Cw Chiang bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $49.50 per share, for a total transaction of $495,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $495,000. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 4,846 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.30, for a total transaction of $253,445.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 112,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,879,618.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 178,919 shares of company stock worth $8,834,653 in the last quarter. 0.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Delta Air Lines

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Delta Air Lines by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,936,699 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $842,283,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,053 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,030,836 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $719,526,000 after acquiring an additional 49,712 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,839,122 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $401,048,000 after acquiring an additional 865,746 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 220.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,600,741 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $346,008,000 after acquiring an additional 5,914,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,374,052 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $336,908,000 after acquiring an additional 826,232 shares during the last quarter. 69.93% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, Inc provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Airline and Refinery. Its domestic network centered on core hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Salt Lake City, as well as coastal hub positions in Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, and Seattle; and international network centered on hubs and market presence in Amsterdam, Bogota, Lima, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Sao Paulo, Seoul-Incheon, and Tokyo.